Sweet Briar College to Close

[jknezek]

Yeah. I don't see how you come back once you lose your human assets.

[Ron Boerger]

Interesting read today in Newsweek on the SBC situation

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/05/08/end-sweet-briar-college-and-problem-womens-colleges-326363.html?piano_t=1

Strikingly, in answer to the "who needs a women's-only college in this day and age" question:

Today, graduates of women’s colleges make up just 2 percent of the college graduate population, yet they account for more than 20 percent of women in Congress and 33 percent of women on Fortune 1000 boards, according to “Why a Women’s College?,” a 2014 study.

One would think that could be huge marketing point for such institutions.

[sunny]

Interesting read today in Newsweek on the SBC situation

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/05/08/end-sweet-briar-college-and-problem-womens-colleges-326363.html?piano_t=1

Strikingly, in answer to the "who needs a women's-only college in this day and age" question:

Today, graduates of women’s colleges make up just 2 percent of the college graduate population, yet they account for more than 20 percent of women in Congress and 33 percent of women on Fortune 1000 boards, according to “Why a Women’s College?,” a 2014 study.

One would think that could be huge marketing point for such institutions.

Would like to know what percentage of Congresswomen are graduates of women's only colleges that A) are NOT in New England AND B) are NOT named Bryn Mawr. 

[Pat Coleman]

+1

[David Collinge]

Maybe they saw that study and decided to close rather than risk the shame of producing a member of Congress.

[PolarCat]

They could have followed Smith College's lead and started openly recruiting / accepting transgender students.  Then invited Bruce Jenner to come to SBC and do a reality TV series, and teach a class on make up and wardrobe tips for the transgender population.  Niche marketing at its finest. 

And the looks on the faces of drunk male visitors from local colleges when they discovered a "surprise" would be priceless.

Actually, pretty glad they didn't go that route, as SBC was a wonderful place.

[Gray Fox]

I just saw an article posted on Facebook about this.  I'm not going to post it here, but one of the comments about it was "follow the money."

[jknezek]

I just saw an article posted on Facebook about this.  I'm not going to post it here, but one of the comments about it was "follow the money."

The school did say money was the problem, so I'm sure both sides would use the same quote to mean completely different things. Random Facebook comments from partisans are generally not worth the minute amount of long dead dinosaur used to post them.

[Ron Boerger]

Closing has been temporarily held up by the VA Supreme Court:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/us/sweet-briar-colleges-closing-temporarily-blocked-by-virginia-supreme-court.html

Sent back to a lower court to resolve all kinds of issues

[Gray Fox]

Saved - For Now:

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/agreement-reached-to-keep-sweet-briar-open-needs-court-approval/2015/06/20/6c9c43e4-179e-11e5-9ddc-e3353542100c_story.html

[Mr. Ypsi]

Saved - For Now:

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/agreement-reached-to-keep-sweet-briar-open-needs-court-approval/2015/06/20/6c9c43e4-179e-11e5-9ddc-e3353542100c_story.html

Based on the article, I'd say one, at most two, years.

But stranger things have happened.

Telling current students to transfer, and newbies to find someone else, is NOT a good survival strategy.

[Ron Boerger]

You wonder if it would make sense to take the upcoming year off so they can actually come up with a recovery plan.   How many students are going to come back?   How many newbies are you going to get with everything so much up in the air? 

[Stinger]

About 300  http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/07/15/in-less-than-two-weeks-almost-300-students-enrolling-at-sweet-briar/

[Mr. Ypsi]

Incredible news!  I thought they were dead for sure.  I would still put the realistic odds of 5-year survival at no more than 50-50, but I have (occasionally ) been wrong.  They did pick a good time for distress: with the dire prospects for long term employment, they might have been dead-in-the-water for getting decent faculty, but there are huge numbers of good teachers in many disciplines out there - the exception might be STEM faculty, but that doesn't seem to be their emphasis.  Good luck to Sweet Briar.

[Ron Boerger]

About 300  http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/07/15/in-less-than-two-weeks-almost-300-students-enrolling-at-sweet-briar/

But only a dozen new students (at the time of the article); I'd imagine a majority of the rest are upper-class students within a year of graduation.   It will be interesting to see how many more incoming first-years they get.  Without a substantial influx of those they will need a serious incoming cohort next year to offset the loss of those graduating.